Chile Votes Under Poll Blackout in Security-Focused Presidential Race

Overview

• Roughly 15.5 million eligible voters are choosing a president and a new Congress under compulsory voting restored in 2022.
• Law 18.700 bars publication of polls in the final 15 days, leaving October surveys as the latest public data showing Jeannette Jara leading the first round at about one-third support.
• Runoff matchups in those surveys indicated Jara trailing right-wing rivals, including a 47%–39% deficit versus José Antonio Kast, making a 14 December second round likely if no majority emerges today.
• The right-of-center field remains split among Kast, Johannes Kaiser, Evelyn Matthei, and Franco Parisi, while crime and migration dominate voter concerns after sharp rises in homicides and kidnappings linked in debate to groups like Tren de Aragua.
• All 155 lower-house seats and 23 of 50 Senate seats are also on the ballot, with analysts noting that President Gabriel Boric’s setbacks and low approval have complicated the governing coalition’s prospects.